The other boys made the mental resolution that they would do the same thing; but before they could accomplish their object, it was necessary that they should get out of the woods. At one time it looked as though they might have to stay there for an indefinite period; but fortunately they met a farmer who was on his way from the city. His wagon was empty, and if he had had a team of horses the weary students would have hired him to take them to Hamilton; but he was driving a yoke of oxen, which he was obliged to pound continually in order to keep them moving, and the boys wisely concluded that they could cover the distance that lay between them and the city in much less time than the lazy cattle could. The farmer told them which way to go to find the main road—of course, they were walking straight away from it—and made them groan by telling them that Hamilton was eight miles distant—good long miles, too.
It took them three-quarters of an hour to find the road, and then they stopped to take a good look at themselves. Their uniforms were soiled, their boots covered with mud, their hands and faces scratched with briers, their overcoats stuck full of burrs, and taken altogether they looked very unlike the spruce young soldiers who had passed that way a few hours before.
“Never mind,” said Blake, as he struck out at his best pace for the city. “We are going where there are plenty of barber-shops, and half an hour’s work will set us right again.”
“But we shall look like black sheep in the flock when we go to the dinner to-night,” said White. “That ebony rascal took our grip-sacks away with him.”
So he had; and with them he had taken their epaulets, white belts and gloves, and polished brass buckles, which they had expected to put on before they went into the hall.
While on their way to the city, the students kept close watch of the road behind them, hoping that some one would come along and give them a lift; but the teams were all going in the wrong direction, and it was not until they were within two miles of their journey’s end that they succeeded in getting a ride. They went at once to Mr. Taylor’s restaurant, and found it almost deserted. There were only two or three waiters there, and it was with no little trepidation that Blake inquired for the proprietor.
“He’s gone to Bordentown,” replied the cashier, briskly; and the boys thought he looked a little surprised to see them in so dilapidated a condition.
“Then he isn’t ill?” said Blake.
“Ill! No. He couldn’t afford to be just now, on account of the dinner, you know. The understanding was that the festivities were to be held in Clarendon Hall, and we didn’t know until the last moment that different arrangements had been made. The change in the programme was rather sudden, but our house was equal to it,” said the cashier, with some pride in his tones. “We got the dinner to the transfer-depot in good shape, and it has gone to Bordentown; but why the cadets should want to go to that out-of-the-way place I can’t imagine. Do you fellows belong to the graduating class? If you do, you are left.”
“Do you know of any one living in the city who employs a colored coachman and footman?” inquired Blake, without replying to the cashier’s question. He had all a school-boy’s horror of being laughed at, and he dreaded the explosion of merriment, which he knew would follow if the man should learn what had happened to him and his companions. Their dinner had been spirited away, they saw that plainly enough, and it was too serious a matter to be laughed over. It could never be settled short of a fight.